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Originally posted by Happydaysf91
That is so true.....its like that in 'probably' all our organizations.
And I know that graduate members could help out more on that level...but that's a hard job in and of itself. A lot of members have families and/or careers. And yes, you can organize those boards, but those individuals 'know' that they don't have to participate 100% of the time. They pick and choose. And ultimately, the responsibility lies on the grad advisor. It's just like in chapters, you can't make Soror Sally participate in community service, fundraisers or go to a conference...she has to want to do and additionally, have the time to do so.
And as one lady put it, we have the time to help everyone but our undergrads.....I understand. But you have to realize in most of our chapters (speaking generally...I'm an AKA)...we only have a handful of movers and shakers that are living up to the true meaning of our pledges....participating in community service, going to conferences and etc. Those handful can't run the chapter as a whole, watch the undergrads day and night (exaggeration), take care of their families, have a career or etc.
I'm not making excuses for graduate members. There is room for improvement. However, I'm trying to figure out what exactly people want from graduate members? Even if we show up to everything, have an excellent mentorship program in place, extend the 'process'....hazing on the undergrad level could still possibly continue...because we can't be with them all day and all night.
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Again, well said Happydaysf91....
I don't know how many on this board are ACTIVE in a chapter, but so many times there's a small number of women that do all of the work in the chapter. We (Delta) always boast we are the largest, 200,000 strong etc.. but how many of us are active and doing our part? How many of us are truly giving back to the rich legacy of Delta Sigma Theta? If enough were, there'd be enough members to supervise properly over the undergraduate chapters. But at the same time ladies, there is but so much we can do. WE as graduate members cannot watch over the undergrads 24/7. Even attending all the legitimate events....that's not where the problem is, it's those unauthorized late night sessions that are the problem..... And to those that pledged undergrad, let's get real, you all know about the ways to get around the advisor and the tricks of the trade to avoid all appearances of evil....or maybe everyone here just went through Intake officially.
All that said, I know this is a touchy subject, because this means changing the livelihood of sororities and fraternities, hbcu culture etc.. as we know it, but what else can we do??? There are other solutions, but how viable are they??
Probable Solution #1 - more members in all organizations need to be active so that the workload can be spread around efficiently and equally
Probable Solution #2 - change the mentality of people interested AND BGLO members re: the processes
Probable Solution #3 - preach to our undegrads until we're blue in the face about what to do and what not to do, how to pick members, consequences of their actions,...etc...
All of these things I've mentioned are personal decisions members have to make. Nationals can't make people be active, and how do we change a mentality that we have created?
I know none of us have the answers, and we're all just putting our heads together to come up with a solution, but I think the one the point we all can agree on is that there has to be a change.
